This practical guide takes readers to the best trails found in the Great Trinity Forest, all within easy reach of Downtown Dallas. Destinations include less traveled, low-traffic areas for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding in the City of Dallas. Joppa Preserve, McCommas Bluff Preserve, Trinity River Wetlands, Texas Horse Park, Dallas Trinity Paddling Trail, Lower White Rock Creek, Sycamore Dixon, Texas Buckeye Trail, Dallas Whitewater Wave, Levee Trails, Rochester Park and more.
The guy above is at the Loop 12 Boat Ramp after what he described as a "near fatal encounter" with the McCommas Bluff Lock and Dam on the evening of May 27, 2012. He was alligator gar hunting on this stretch of the Trinity River for the first time and was not aware that the McCommas Lock and Dam straddled the river below McCommas Bluff. He said that it was "1 in 1000" that he survived after getting hung up in the riffles, shoal, logs and concrete blocking the river there. He was pretty angry about it and shaking his head as he secured his airboat.
Signage exists at the Loop 12 Boat Ramp detailing the hazards of the boat ramp ahead but there are not any warnings about the navigable hazards up and down the river. That would include not only the 104 year old McCommas Bluff Lock but the brand new Standing Wave near Downtown. The alligator gar hunter seemed to be an experienced boater, mentioning he does most of his boating below Texoma on the Red River in water an inch deep. He suggested the city, county or Parks and Wildlife should install a sign at the boat ramp of those hazards.
Whitetail Buck At Loop 12
Whitetail Buck at Little Lemmon Lake, Great Trinity Forest Trail
Deer are so hard to see this time of year in the Great Trinity Forest. Most of the foliage is at a peak and sometimes seeing just 10 feet into the underbrush is difficult. The single whitetail in the photos above and below were taken just 3 minutes after I spoke with the airboater and not more than 200 yards away. The location is a small bridge that spans a canal separating Little Lemmon Lake from Lemmon Lake. At some point in the distant past I think this was the original channel for Five Mile Creek.
Deer with a dumped tire, only in the Great Trinity Forest
It's usually during the rut that bucks move around during the day coming closer to humans. So this particular deer out wandering around is something special for this time of year. It seemed to slowly drift off the concrete and back into the woods at a leisurely pace. Which was neat. Whitetail bucks lose their antlers in the winter and start to grow them back in April-May. The buck you see here has about a month of velvet growth so far and might have a decent sized rack of antlers come fall.
I checked with the DFW Urban Wildlife guy to see if this deer matches any of the deer in his automated photo collection and it does not.
The rebirth of Lemmon Lake and the return of the Roseate Spoonbills
Lemmon Lake May 27, 2012
Roseate Spoonbill May 27, 2012 at Lemmon Lake
I had written off Lemmon Lake as the victim of the 2011 drought. Baked to a crisp last summer the soil was literally sterilized of aquatic life by the heat. I thought that while the water would surely return the food chain of smaller insects and amphibians would take years to rebound. I was wrong. The bait fish, crawfish and frog populations are back full force. So are the birds from down south that feed on them.
Getting to a view of Lemmon Lake is difficult. Surrounded by thickets, bramble patches, poison ivy...and that's just the outer belt. Next comes a section of willow swamp, followed by a slog through snake infested 8 foot high reeds. The trail I whacked out of the undergrowth last year so that birders could visit has now become overgrown again to the point where one cannot even see it. I chose a different bushwhacking route this spring and was rewarded with seeing an early set of Roseate Spoonbills. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come for June and July with more strange birds of the tropics moving north for the summer.
Video of Lemmon Lake and a roosting Roseate Spoonbill in a willow tree with some Anhingas
White Ibis at Lemmon Lake
These feeding frenzys are interesting to watch. The Ibis organize into police lines, driving forward like a tractor plowing a field. The cranes, herons and egrets follow along either picking through the scraps or staying ahead of the ibis as they drive the larger fish forward. The larger shad as seen inset left are too large for the ibis and are readily picked up by the larger birds.
Where did all the mosquitoes go?
Southern Leopard Frog at Lemmon Lake
Red Swamp Crawfish at Lemmon Lake
I was last at Lemmon Lake in early May. It was a quick visit due to the clouds of mosquitoes in the brush. Within a minute of stepping off the concrete I was swarmed by the insects. My most recent trip...not a mosquito to be seen. I think the unusually large population of Southern Leopard Frogs might have something to do with that. The flooded timber of the winter and spring gave the tadpoles an excellent environment for brooding. This variety of frog is a swiss army knife of insect killing eating spiders, grasshoppers, flies and mosquitoes. Having these underfoot sure makes a trip more enjoyable.
It's interesting that all these photos were taken within 1/2 a mile of each other over about the course of an hour. The diversity of what exists down in that part of the Great Trinity Forest is just eye popping. The scenes of a guy with an airboat, deer, spoonbills, ibis and symphony of frogs are more out of a Florida swamp. Not a forgotten part of Dallas.
I got to know him via email a few months ago discussing the Lake Highlands feral pig(s). Lake Highlands Feral Pig . As a result he did some really interesting documentation on the feral pig living in Lake Highlands. Check out the link above complete with video of the pig.
He has quite a bit of know how and specialized equipment for capturing photos and video of wildlife. Using automated motion sensor game cameras placed along game trails and water sources he can capture animals acting naturally.
Whitetail Buck with velvet antlers in the Great Trinity Forest May 2012-- DFWURBANWILDLIFE.COM
This is part of a larger project for him in the Great Trinity Forest. Not to let the cat out of the bag but I think he is trying to get a certain animal on film down there that haunts the woods. One that is a myth, legend and rumor across much of North Texas.
Two whitetail bucks in Dallas Texas May 2012 DFWURBANWILDLIFE.COM
I doubt anyone would run across one of his cameras down there since they are so far off any beaten path frequented by man. If you do happen across one of his cameras just let them be. It's not a poacher's camera. Merely someone attempting something very, very cool.
I'm looking forward to updates on his website to watch these bucks grow their racks through the summer. Maybe he can come up with a population number on how many deer live in the Great Trinity Forest. I think the most I have seen in one place at one time is five.
A brief storm popped up over East Dallas on the evening of May 13, 2012 and meandered south over the Great Trinity Forest. Most of the bottomland down there is flat, save for a pyramid sized mound of dirt at the Wetland Cells that rises above the floodplain some 30 feet. Using that as a vantage point I watched the virga turn to an early evening rain.
I would imagine that in some point in the future, a master plan for the area calls for a pavillion of some kind to be built on top of the pyramid. It offers a unique vantage point of downtown to the north and the unobstructed view of the crescent shaped wetland chain from I-45 to Loop 12. This spring wildflowers covered the acre sized top to it.
Horsemint on the acre sized top of the wetland "pyramid"
Random Wildflowers From Around The Base of The Pyramid
I had a hunch that waiting around for the shower to blow over would yield a rainbow and sure enough one briefly appeared. The pot-o-gold location would probably have been near the Audubon Center.
Rainbow over the Trinity River May 13, 2012
Dripping wet wildflowers after an evening spring shower
Prohibition, The Dean Law and G.G. Kirby the Moonshiner
Wallace Jenkins and County Agent A.B. Jolley May 11, 1952
The history of the area known as the Wetland Cells and Horse Park on opposing banks of the river is a jigsaw puzzle full of pieces. Like an old puzzle left in an attic with pieces missing. Hard to get a good picture of why things are they way they are. You find a piece here and there, find out where they belong and a picture starts to emerge. Much of the history that happened along the Trinity is long since forgotten. Lost two or three generations ago when many of the original farms were sold for residential housing or commercial use. Some of the back story behind this forgotten past is amazing. Mr Billy Ray Pemberton might be one of the few that still knows about it.
A number of people when visiting a real old place with a ton of history wonder what it looked like decades or even half a century ago. How it "used to look" before. Or back in the "good old days".
Well...the two black and white photos above might give some insight into that.
The top photo was featured in the May 11, 1952 edition of the Dallas Morning News. The article is about Wallace Jenkins(seen on the left) and County Agent A.B. Jolley on Jenkins farm. Jenkins bought the 1700 acre property at depression era prices in 1938 for $27 an acre. Known as the Kirby Farm, it once sat on both sides of the Trinity River from Rochester Park(William Blair Park) down to Loop 12. That sixty year old article has Jenkins and Jolley standing in a chest high field of oats that would yield 100 bushels an acre. Mr Pemberton as a kid recalls seeing Wallace Jenkins driving around surveying his farm and pecan groves from his cars, 1941 and 1942 model Lincoln Zephyrs. Mr Pemberton even worked as a yard boy at their home for a time.
The second black and white photo was taken just about in that same spot. Same patchwork collection of fields that stretch from 175 to Loop 12. The difference is that the second black and white photo is not from 1952 but literally sixty years later, to the day, the evening of May 9, 2012.......
Billy Ray Pemberton May 9, 2012
Same spot. Same field for the most part.
Mr Pemberton is proud of that tractor. I met him that evening in that lower pasture where he was brush hogging and collecting old tires. He stopped at the edge of the field there after I took the photo above. He was telling me how he had driven that tractor(trailered) across the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge a couple weeks before to a mowing job in West Dallas.
Wallace Jenkins acquired the old Kirby Farm(now the future site of the Texas Horse Park) at a time when it was in
disrepair. The previous owner, G.G. Kirby was a man that seemed to lack a moral compass and
engaged in all matters of nonsense in the 1910s-1930s. He was one of the
few Dallas County residents who was prosecuted to the fullest extent of
the federal Prohibition laws and the Dean Act of 1919. Texas has some
screwy liquor laws stemming back to 1854. When the 18th Amendment was ratified by Texas in March 1918, a new campaign began to add teeth to the toothless tiger of the amendment. So the Dean Act was passed in 1919 which made alcohol production, sales and consumption a felony in Texas punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
In the cross hairs of this was G. G. Kirby. Where there is a will, there is a way and I guess Kirby fancied the booze so much that he built the largest moonshine still ever, in Dallas County. He became what was known back then as a "wet farmer". Right down there near the Horse Park. According to the old newspaper articles, it was the finest drinking moonshine anyone had ever tasted. No mention of how he ran his still or what he used as a mash. Loose lips sink ships and within a year he found himself in court arraigned on a dozen charges of illegal liquor production, sales and consumption. He and his co-conspirators had no chance at their trials. Every minister in town lined up to testify against the moral depravity Kirby brought to their flocks.
Kirby was a cooked goose it seemed. That was until Texas elected its first female Governor, Ma Ferguson in 1924. One of here platforms was to pardon the couple hundred convicted "wet farmers". One of which being G.G. Kirby. He found himself off the hook and never to have his name printed again. Some years later, Wallace Jenkins bought the old Kirby Farm, one that no one thought could be worth anything.
Jenkins turned the Kirby farm into one of the most productive farms ever in Dallas County. He was successful in keeping his farm intact during the site selection for the sewage treatment plant and the larger landfill site that later became McCommas Bluff. He argued that the 25 feet of blackland clay under his farm would be wasted if turned into a sewage plant. It's interesting to see the twists and turns of how some drunk moonshiner's misfortune with the law probably kept Rochester Park and Joppa from becoming a dump and a waste water plant.
Maybe that's where the city sits today with the Great Trinity Forest. If you replace an old moonshiner like Kirby with a modern day meth lab or pot field...you get the idea that the socioeconomic and political hurdles facing that area are not new ones. They are as old as the land itself. Only the faces and names change.
Swallowtail Butterfly among the wildflowers of the Pemberton Meadow
Solar eclipse May 20, 2012 over the Trinity River in Dallas Texas Inwood-Hampton Road Bridge
This was the May 20, 2012 eclipse visible across much of the Western
United States and Pacific Rim. In Dallas, seeing the eclipse became an
issue when a severe thunderstorm formed over Jack County to the west.
The top of the storm blew high level clouds eastwards obscuring the
eclipse through much of its duration. It was not until a few minutes
before sunset that the eclipse poked out from the low horizon allowing
for a really spectacular sunset.
Everything started out just fine till the clouds took over.....
More clouds, patient waiting, then just before sunset, the sun popped out for about 90 seconds.
The story above is by WFAA's Craig Civale. If anyone wants to use the photos on the blog here feel free. I wish I had some better photos to share. Guess I don't! If we only knew that photo of him at Lemmon Lake among a bunch of ramshackle old Depression era shacks were to one day end up on Channel 8. Wow. Thanks WFAA and Craig Civale for doing a story about Michael. It means a lot to many.
I went to Baylor yesterday evening to visit Michael. He's in a medically induced coma. His ICU room on the 4th floor faces southeast with large bay windows. Spread before me like some Reveau Bassett mural I could see some of the places we rode together. The Santa Fe Trestle Trail, Wonderview, the water tower marking the wastewater plant, McCommas Bluff and in between all that,the mass of green that people call the Great Trinity Forest. It was a strange feeling seeing it, with my ears listening to the muted echoes of a breathing machine in the background, the beeps and pops of computerized machines displaying his vital signs like a wild afternoon on the Greek stockmarket. Surreal.
As
you may know, the McNair family was rocked at its core yesterday
morning when Michael, an avid and experienced cyclist, was struck by a
car while riding his bicycle.
Michael
survived the accident, but is in the ICU with fractures to his neck,
back, all the ribs on his left side, his hip and his pelvis in multiple
places - his lung was punctured by the broken ribs and his spleen was
also lacerated in the collision. Due to the severity of his injuries, he
remains sedated and on a ventilator, unable to breathe on his own. At
this point in time, his recovery is expected to be a very long and
difficult one.
Michael
has always been a pillar of strength and support for his family -
Heather and all 3 kids deal with the day to day effects of mitochondrial
disease, a multi-system genetic disorder that affects them all in
varying degrees of severity. Through all the medical trials,
tribulations and uncertainty, Michael has been an unending cheerleader
for the family - keeping them looking forward when the road is
difficult. He is also actively involved with Make a Wish - helping to
grant the wishes of other children who are facing the reality of a
life-threatening illness. Now it is time for us to rally around him.
Needless
to say, mom, Heather, and the kids, Chase, Madison and Abigail are
reeling from this, both with what it means for their husband/dad, and
what it is going to mean for the family long term.
Your
prayers are greatly appreciated, but in the long term, your financial
support will help them through what is undoubtedly one of the scariest
situations any family member could imagine. The future is going to be
uncertain as it is, let's help them concentrate on recovering and
bringing Dad home, and not on the financial pressures associated with a
catastrophic injury.
Every bit helps... thank you for your generosity and your prayers.
-----
I met Mike's wife Heather and their son Chance yesterday. They are really nice people who have been down a road similar to this before with Michael's Crohn's disease. I had to bite my lip a little though when his son said they planned on using his motorized wheelchair for his father. Well. You know. That goes right to your core there.
His injuries draw a strong parallel to the story of golf analyst David Feherty. In 2008 he wrote an article for D Magazine about his wreck. He was hit in front of the Bed Bath and Beyond on Park Lane at Greenville Avenue and joked that he was hit so hard that he ended up in the "Beyond" part. His story provides a little humor to a dark chapter in anyone's life. It can be read here David Feherty Got Hit By A Truck And Lived To Tell About It Michael has volunteered so much of his own personal time and talents for DART and the city government with bike related issues and mass transit I hope they hatch a plan to help in some way. Few people do so much as a private citizen as Michael McNair.
Michael's bike on left with his friend Chandra on right
Bike commuters take a more blue collar approach to cycling than other disciplines on two wheels. Where road cyclists often look for lightweight bikes and gear to go faster....commuter cyclists focus more on durability and strength of parts. Micheal is an expert at blending his knowledge of components into the best bike possible. He carries tools, tools to fix the tools and emergency supplies when all that fails. He even carries coffee making supplies on his bike.
Just a stunning jolt to everyone that a cyclist so prepared can be injured in this way.
This is just the beginning of a long road to recovery. A road I know one day he will ride away on, with a bike.
Human Honey Badger Michael Tripp McNair at Joppa Preserve, Great Trinity Forest, with a Copperhead Snake
You probably don't know Michael. But you have seen the impact he has made in Dallas. He's one of the bike advocates behind cool ideas like bike racks on DART buses and clam shell storage lockers at train stations. I'd also take a good guess that he is probably one of the highest mileage commuting cyclists in DFW. Probably north of 150 miles a week, year round. Riding from his home in Garland out to the Irving/Las Colinas/Coppell area daily to his job. Married with children, survivor of Crohn's disease and a cancer scare....he's a shining example of someone who has overcome enormous personal adversity to do what he does. He's one of the best at it. Dallas is a better city to live in because of him. Hard to find people that give back like that. Who practice what they preach. Who practice what they practice.
When people say they can't ride a bike to work, have health issues or have too much going on in their family life to ride a bike....I use Michael as an example. He's my "I know a guy who ______". He's that guy.
It's a cruel irony that during National Bike To Work Week and the day of the annual Ride of Silence that Michael finds himself in the fight of his life in the ICU at Baylor after being hit by a vehicle near Ferguson and Cotillion on the morning of May 15th while riding to work. Hit not far from his home. The laundry list of things he has broken is a long one. Neck, back, hip, pelvis, punctured lung, ribs, spleen. I have no idea how or why it happened. Just that if you have any prayers to offer, he could really use 'em.
UPDATE 5/17/12 5pm:
The link below goes to a secure website setup for donations to the family, started by the friends of the McNair Family
As
you may know, the McNair family was rocked at its core yesterday
morning when Michael, an avid and experienced cyclist, was struck by a
car while riding his bicycle.
Michael
survived the accident, but is in the ICU with fractures to his neck,
back, all the ribs on his left side, his hip and his pelvis in multiple
places - his lung was punctured by the broken ribs and his spleen was
also lacerated in the collision. Due to the severity of his injuries, he
remains sedated and on a ventilator, unable to breathe on his own. At
this point in time, his recovery is expected to be a very long and
difficult one.
Michael
has always been a pillar of strength and support for his family -
Heather and all 3 kids deal with the day to day effects of mitochondrial
disease, a multi-system genetic disorder that affects them all in
varying degrees of severity. Through all the medical trials,
tribulations and uncertainty, Michael has been an unending cheerleader
for the family - keeping them looking forward when the road is
difficult. He is also actively involved with Make a Wish - helping to
grant the wishes of other children who are facing the reality of a
life-threatening illness. Now it is time for us to rally around him.
Needless
to say, mom, Heather, and the kids, Chase, Madison and Abigail are
reeling from this, both with what it means for their husband/dad, and
what it is going to mean for the family long term.
Your
prayers are greatly appreciated, but in the long term, your financial
support will help them through what is undoubtedly one of the scariest
situations any family member could imagine. The future is going to be
uncertain as it is, let's help them concentrate on recovering and
bringing Dad home, and not on the financial pressures associated with a
catastrophic injury.
Every bit helps... thank you for your generosity and your prayers.
Matt Malone (foreground) and Michael McNair (background) with the very first bicycle crossing of the Trinity River Trail Bridge in the Great Trinity Forest in the summer of 2011
Michael is one of the best equipped cyclists on the road when it comes to
lights, visibility and safety. I have often poked fun at him for his
really awful choice of neon colored clothes. The same clothes that make
him visible for half a mile. He carries so many front and rear lights that his bike looks more like a taxiing airplane than a bike. For someone that is so over prepared for any possible contingency to be so injured in a wreck just really has me at a loss.
He has joined me on numerous trips down to the Trinity River. Going by the handle "MMACH5" he is well known in the cycling and geocaching communities. His handle is an acronym for the first letters of his, his wife, his three children's names. 5 in all. Like the DART Committee he served on, he has also made the Great Trinity Forest a better place. Last summer he added the first geocaches to the Great Trinity Forest which can be found here MMACH5's geocaches. Some unique spots like Joppa, the old Sleepy Hollow Country Club and the old Pig Rodeo arena in Floral Farms. He also has some in the Scyene/Piedmont Ridge trail areas too.
When the new Omni Hotel opened in Downtown Dallas this past winter I took a stroll through the lower floors checking out the photos that line the convention center hallways. It's not this particular photo above but one like it of Lemmon Lake that hangs above a couch in one of those hallways with a teeny tiny Michael hidden in the foliage. Like a game of Where's Waldo, Michael is often in these shots hidden somewhere. In the photo above, and magnified to the left, he is looking through the reeds of Lemmon Lake for alligators and alligator nests. Without him, my late forays into the nocturnal Great Trinity Forest would not be possible. He has a keen sense for reptiles that I lack. When the lights go out in the bayous, swamps and sloughs of the Trinity it comes alive with animals straight out of a PBS documentary. Loud and deafening. The late night photo trips and deep exploration into the forest last summer simply would not have been possible without him along. If you like the photos and videos of the random stuff I found last summer, thank him, not me. No way would I have crossed into that true wilderness without Michael.
Here's to hoping that he gets on the mend soon. "People Call Me Clint" who sells BBQ in the Bon Ton(best BBQ in Dallas hands down, it's East Texas style) has been wondering about Michael and where he has been. It's gonna break that guy's heart when I tell him.
Say a prayer for Michael. Throw a penny in a wishing well. Rub a Budda belly and think of him. I know I will.
Two Members of the Knight Riders Riding Club from Waco, Texas riding in the Great Trinity Forest along the Trinity River May 5. 2012
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. In order to grasp what the Trinity River and the Great Trinity Forest are evolving into one must think of the area as a whole. Not chopped and divided into small puzzle pieces. Maybe it's another catch phrase I'm looking for..............
Cinco de Mayo themed "5" Reunion Tower backdrops the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and Supermoon
....diversity maybe. A buzz word that has just about run it's course. I think when one throws in the Trinity River with that it conjures up an unsettling cringe with most people. It's a different diversity you'll find down there. If you go looking for it in the Great Trinity Forest there is a chance you'll find it. The diverse plant life, ecology and animals are a broad spectrum of Texas flora and fauna. What has been missing are people. Sure you can get thousands of people to the river for a widely publicized weekend party....but what about a regular old weekend? That seems to be changing. It's neat to slowly see a trickle of normal folks like myself exploring the woods down there debunking the myths and legends of the Great Trinity Forest being a voidless place. Mark Louis, who many of you know as "Hawkeye" from his morning show on 96.3 KSCS with Terry Dorsey, has a great writeup on his website about a hike he took through Pleasant Grove's Piedmont Ridge/Scyene Overlook, Buckeye Trail and the Audubon Center. You can read his write up here: Ever Heard Of The Great Trinity Forest. Check it out.
So much has changed that scenes depicted in these photos below would not be possible 3 years ago. Or even a year ago. They are places no one group can lay claim on. Places that the history is still unwritten since they are so new.
Joppa Annual Trail Ride And Campout
Grazing horse Joppa, Texas
The Joppa trail ride and campout is probably the largest horse trail riding event in Dallas. With the campsite headquarters in the heart of Joppa it hosts over one hundred participants every year. Horses, mules, horse drawn wagons and atv support vehicles form a scene that many think is a sight one can only read about in the history books. Here the Texas spirit really lives. Do you call it a modern day version of a Mountain Man Rendezvous? Not much has changed.
Since the horse was introduced to Texas by the Spanish in the 1500s, man has been riding on by horseback on the Trinity. The photo above and inset left are in a part of the Great Trinity Forest near Joppa where Honey Springs once ran into the Trinity. Wandered over by the Caddo, Spanish, French, Comanche, Mexicans, Texians, Texans, Confederates and Americans. Here. Right there. All left their mark. A kick or two with your boot heel and you can find artifacts in the riverbank from half the groups I listed.
Like the explorers of yesteryear, the 2012 trailriders hail from areas all over the map. Speaking with many I was surprised how far many traveled to ride the Great Trinity Forest. The Joppa residents are always great for conversation but I learned so much more from some really interesting riders. Waco, Athens, Frankston, Marshall, San Angelo, Wichita Falls, Houston and points in between. There was also a group there from Tennessee Colony, Texas. Like Joppa, it was carved out of the deep Texas woods a century and a half ago. A real struggle of a place to live after the Civil War and a fascinating history to read up on. The parallel stories of fights against the railroad, the river and socioeconomic inequality. Great off the radar history and stories many of which are not written but told orally through stories and recollection.
Above is a short clip of a portion of the 50-100 trail riders coming through the Trinity River Wetland Cells between Loop 12 and Old Central Expressway. The Corps of Engineers has started an aggressive mowing campaign against Giant Ragweed(Ambrosia trifida) in this area. Overrun by the plant in the summers it is now kept in check allowing for shorter native grasses to grow. Seems to be working. The last couple years riding a horse, mountain bike or even walking through some areas would be impossible.
These are the kind of events that the city government should embrace. Sure the mega-million horse park project would be nice but do you need a facility like that to ride a horse around on the river? People are already doing it. Grassroots style. The city should find out how things like this are so much fun and draw people from so far away.
Great Trinity Forest Trail Joppa Preserve between Loop 12 and Simpson Stuart Road
See Joppa Before It Changes
Joppa (pronounced Joppie) has been forgotten and ignored for so many decades that it has now become one of the best preserved Freedman's communities left in the United States. Founded in the 1870s by former slaves of the Miller Plantation the roots stretch deep into Dallas history. Some may visit and see dilapidated shotgun houses and homes far past their expiration date. What I see though is how they are woven into the fabric of the neighborhood like old antiques in an attic waiting to be thrown out. Drive down there. Cross the Linfield Road Bridge. See it. Get out and walk around some. The city and Habitat For Humanity have plans to build new homes there soon. While seeing the shotgun houses and old chicken coops disappear is a good thing, I think some of the soul might go with it. Go see it. What is Joppa? Zack Canepari spent some time down in Joppa a couple summers ago to document the community for Habitat For Humanity. It's really cool to see his photos since you can go down there right this minute and visit with the same residents he did. They all have stories to tell, great ones, if you will let them borrow your ear.
Giddy up and moving on.....all these photos were all taken in the span of a few hours. Mountain biking down the river from White Rock Lake, a visit with the trail riders in Joppa and then a fast ride up the river to the Calatrava Bridge to see the moonrise.....
Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge Before The Sunset
Swallowtail Butterfly
Honey Bee collecting pollen at base of Calatrava Bridge
Other than the blockbuster fireworks show or wind festival type events I always had the prairie flood plain near the bridges to myself. Last summer while photographing a similar moonrise, no one else was around. Every so often I would look over my shoulder to double check to make sure I was not in someone's shot. Nope.
As I rode up the lower levee road from the Santa Fe Trestle Trail I was surprised to see so many photographers lining the levee. Shocked really. Happy.
Many seemed somewhere between the serious amateur and the professional level with all their gear. I had planned on meeting David Mimlitch(see below) to shoot the bridge after dark. We had met down there before for a star trail project he was working on involving the bridge. At night, lingering there alone is not a good idea so it helps to have company along. This time it was not needed since such a crowd had gathered. Like the horseback trail ride in Joppa an hour earlier, the Supermoon and the new bridge attracted people from all over.
One photographer, a recent transplant from Arizona to Dallas(I forgot his name and I kick myself for not remembering it) was assembling a set of ladders and horizontal boards for a set of levitation shots using a female model near the Pavaho Pump Station. The bridge, moon and skyline forming a backdrop with the model appearing to be suspended in mid-air. Another couple guys Dennis and David were retirees from Sachse. Their claim to fame was storm chasing. Or storms chasing them. In one of their more recent tornado chases they were in the vicinity of the Lancaster truck terminal when the tornado hit sending tractor trailers airborne. When retelling their adventure, they made a point to show how far over their heads the trailers were as they watched. Awesome story and awesome people.
Supermoon rise over Dallas
The guess work of figuring out where and when the moon/sun rises and sets has been a mystery and hard work. Most people now use The Photographer's Ephemeris to plan their shoot. Handy. I saw a number of people iphonin' on the levee trying to figure out where the moon went to.
Following the moon as it rises through the bridge is actually not as boring as it sounds. Since the perspective of the moon is being viewed through distant objects, you can watch the moon move with your eyes. To keep the same shot, you need to be constantly moving down the levee, up, around side-to-side. Sunday June 3, 2012 and Monday June 4, 2012 are the next best chances to photograph the moon rising through the bridge. Next month will be almost straight up and down the river and Crow Park will be an excellent vantage point I think. Maybe even further back towards Mockingbird/Westmoreland.
Night Photos Of The Super Moon Over The Trinity River
Joining me at the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge was David Mimlitch. He has more photos of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, Crow Park and the green space between the levees than anyone else. His true niche is aerial photography using a rather large remote control aircraft with a Canon digital SLR camera mounted on the front. With that aerial setup he won honorable mention in the Trinity River Photo Contest last year featuring the Santa Fe Trestle Trail and Standing Wave.
Below are a couple of his great photos more of which can be found on his flickr page Dave Mimlitch's photo stream . He has all the fancy camera gear that I lack for shooting photos at night. Below are some of his great photos taken from the levee in the vicinity of the Pavaho Pump Station.
